Williamson County Schools at a crossroads over school finances

Williamson County has grown so fast, but public schools funding has not kept up. There is a proposed sales tax referendum to help alleviate the long-term budget crunch. Photos by Mark Zaleski.
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A construction worker on the roof of a school being built in Thompson's Station, Tenn., on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017.
An elementary and middle school, which have not been named yet, are expected to open in Fall 2018 to keep up with growth in Williamson County.
(Photo11: Mark Zaleski/ For The Tennessean)Buy Photo

This is the first in a series on the financial challenges facingWilliamson County Schools.

Earlier this year, Brentwood parent David Brooks placed "Fund Our Schools" signs at the front of local neighborhoods, joining dozens of other parents rallying for full funding of needs in Williamson County Schools.

He also helped distribute stickers and t-shirts with the same slogan - something he didn't fathom he'd need to do for an affluent, high-performing school district.

WCS routinely posts high state test scores, ACT scores and millions in college scholarships.

But even in a county with an affluent population, school funding challenges have been created by fast growth, less state funding and rising costs forland and construction..

In recent months, Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney has said the county is at a crossroads - fully fund the schools or risk a decline in quality in what business professionals routinely call the county’s biggest asset.

“You try to keep property tax low for your residents and for your businesses, and we do that,” he said.

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A worker uses concrete blocks to build a wall for the new middle school in Thompson's Station on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. The school, which has not been named yet, is expected to open in fall 2018 to keep up with growth in Williamson County.(Photo11: Mark Zaleski / For The Tennessean)

The reluctance for a property tax hike perplexes parents who see the need for more schools or renovations.

The percentage of state funds has changed in the last decade due to changes in the Basic Education Program formula, or a formula that determines how much state funding a district will receive - though BEP funding is not the sole source of state funding.

In 2004, there was a change in the state/local split in funding for classroom spending, according to Chandler Hopper, spokeswoman for the state department of education.

The share went from 75 percent state and 25 percent local, to 65 percent state and 35 percent local – impacting the overall state share, Hopper said.

In 2008, the state moved to BEP 2.0. In the amended formula, the models used to determine local ability to pay were blended, which resulted in a larger local share for Williamson County, Hopper said.

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An elementary and middle school being built on Clayton Arnold Road on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017, in Thompson's Station, Tenn. The schools, which have not been named yet, are expected to open in Fall 2018 to keep up with growth in Williamson County.
(Photo11: Mark Zaleski/ For The Tennessean)

The district has always been able to present a budget with available county funding - except for this year, according to Holman.

A big chunk of the budget's increase was due to higher insurance premiums, Holman said.

Without support for a property tax increase, the district had to cut about $6 million from its requested operational budget for the 2017-18 school year.

“We had to remove some needed but not mandatory positions from the budget as well as some capital and operational expenses,” Holman wrote in an email.

County will lose state bonus for high cost of living

The district will lose state funding slated for districts with a high cost of living, also known as the cost differential factor (CDF).

In 1999, CDF funds were about 20 percent of state’s BEP funding to the district.

But in 2007, after several years of student enrollment growth, those funds were reduced by half when CDF funds began to phase out, according to Holman.

Williamson’s share of CDF funds were reduced so that funding could be distributed across all districts and not just a select few, Hopper said.

CDF funding has steadily decreased since then. For this school year, the CDF funds comprise about 5.73 percent of the district’s BEP funding - a steep decline from the late 1990s.

“The County understands that the state is giving us less funds than it would be, if the CDF stayed in place and does its best to fund our budget appropriately,” Holman wrote in an email.

Construction is booming

Construction is booming in WCS whichmeans more students. Additional students spur the need for more schools and major renovations of landlocked campuses.

The district's student population has grown nearly 55 percent since 2005. The district expects student enrollment to double again in the next decade.

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Builders work in the common area to be shared by the new elementary and middle schools in Thompson's Station on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. The schools, which have not been named yet, are expected to open in fall 2018 to keep up with growth in Williamson County.(Photo11: Mark Zaleski / For The Tennessean)

The district needs about 17 new schools in the next 10 years.

For the next five years, the district estimates a need for about $421.46 million for new schools, major renovations and maitenance.

The increasing cost of land compounds the cost of new schools.

In 1998, the district paid about $21,573 per acre for Kenrose Elementary in Brentwood. Land for a-yet-unnamedelementary and middle school scheduled to open in 2018 in Brentwood cost nearly $103,175 per acre - a nearly 380 percent increase from the Brentwood school land costs in the late 90s.

With land costs in mind, the school district requested about $46.1 million last year to cover about 615 acres land through 2026.

The request, a first for the district, was denied by the county commissioners who were hesitant to approve funding for land that hadn’t been secured yet.

This year alone, the district aims to finish two schools in Thompson’s Station, one school in Brentwood, renovate a new academic building for Franklin High, start construction on a new academic building for Page Middle and create a new parking lot and access road to Brentwood High.

Upcoming funding requests include auditoriums for two middle schools and major renovations at Page High School and other renovations at Franklin High.

With the construction boom, county and school officials have scrambled to tackle school construction costs.

The county in March implemented an education impact fee on all new housing tohelp pay for new schools. However, that funding is off limits until litigation filed by developersis settled.

A higher county sales tax would temporarily pay off debt for schools. That’s still pending approval from each of the cities in the county,a county commission vote and then a county referendum.

Mike Mueller, lives in Franklin and has two kids in Williamson County Schools, and feels that a property tax increase would make "so much more sense."

“I think it’s a fairness question. I looked at the property tax increased proposed. So it might cost us $80 a year more. For those who live in places like Sullivan Farms and McKay’s Mill, $80 isn’t a dent in the wallet. They will be paying a lot more in that in sales tax,” he said.

So far, Franklin, Brentwood, Nolensville and Spring Hill have agreed to contribute a portion of a sales tax increase specifically for school debt. Fairview is exempt, leaving Thompson's Station as the last town to vote.

“We need to tax property and not tax sales. We are punishing the lowest income people here. Where are we not taxing people? On our property,” she said.

David Critchlow's family moved to the county for the schools.

"We had a choice whether to go to public or private," he said. "We chose public schools."

Critchlow, head of Franklin High School's athletic booster club, is one of many parents advocating for full funding of facility improvements at the school - something he never imagined he'd get involved in when he moved to the county.

"We shouldn't need to get parents riled up and have a call to action and send out alerts," he said.

Earlier this year, Looney asked two cities — Brentwood and Franklin — to contribute money toward school debt for school projects in their respectiveareas - a first for the superintendent.